No-grind & No-Second Seal Lunatic run: Need advice

[Ryo]

I've only done this on lower difficulties and I need some advice for a Lunatic no grind and no second seal run; so I need to ask some questions.

1. First and most importantly: Is this possible at all?

2. If yes, I need to consider which units to train for a long run. I'm having trouble choosing between:

2.1. The two cavaliers: Sully vs. Stahl?

Sully's growth is not that spectacular in most of my other no-SS runs, and she eventually fell behind. Her daughter is not much better either. I don't know about Stahl. Of course I can use both of them but that means I'll have to ditch some of the newer units (which include the more powerful children).

2.2. The two dark mages: Tharja vs. Henry?

While Tharja can likely double enemies much more often than Henry, I'm worried about her low skill growth (which means lower hit rate and more dangerously, lower DS rate). I didn't have any problem with Henry before (except for his speed) because he can crit a lot. But on Lunatic, low speed can be more dangerous, so I don't know.

2.3. The two thieves: Gaius vs. Anna?

Gaius is really hard to train because of his low strength and weapon level. At least Anna can use staff and Levin sword.

2.4. The two transformers: Panne vs. Nowi?

Nowi's growth can be horrible at times, though Nah's performance is great. I'm not sure about Panne and Yarne, but I think speed is more important on higher difficulties. Either way, their husband is probably going to be Lon'qu.

3. Will +Mag/-Lck be a problem on a long run? I want a magic-oriented Avatar but I don't want to screw his defenses.

4. Is there anyway for Sumia to learn Galeforce before C13 to pass it down to Lucina, without screwing her stats? Though it doesn't really matter since Lucina still has her use even without GF.

5. I'm not sure if I should use these units: Ricken, Gregor, Virion. Their performances are not that great in any of my past no-SS runs, and while they are all good fathers, that's gonna be irrelevant because I won't use all of the children anyway.

6. Is there anything else I need to pay attention to?

Edited December 25, 2014 by Ryo

[Czar_Yoshi]

Yes, it's possible.

You're not going to be using any parents (bar Chrom for Grima and Avatar for Rally Spectrum) much after you start getting children because their levels cap way too early for them to be useful, so things like whether Stahl or Sully will be more useful later on are irrelevant (they'll both be benched). You'll want to care more about the children (who should only be recruited when both of their parents are 20/20, of course). Getting Sumia to 20/15 by Cht.13 is feasible since Avatar won't be hogging very much exp, but you'll definitely have to make a conscious effort to do it (and consider switching to Sully or Avatar if you decide definitely not to go for it). I'd advise going +Spd on Avatar because Grima and other fast things. Taguel reek so Panne should definitely be benched right off the bat, and with 10 fewer levels than everyone else I wouldn't advise training Nowi. Without reclassing, Gregor can't make himself useful on Laurent, so I wouldn't use him- Virion and Ricken are both not worth it either.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Czar_Yoshi

[General Banzai]

This is Vanilluna, not Luna+ right?

Use Sully, she's just better than Stahl. Use Henry, save your Speedwings for him and give him a fast waifu. Use Nowi, she's a lategame terror. Also use Tiki when you get her. Definitely use Anna, she can staffbot most of the game and has ridiculous base offense with Levin Sword, plus you can pair her with Tiki later.

You can solo the last chapters of the game with Henry + 5 Nosferatu tomes.

It's not only possible but I've already done it. My team was (second name in pairing is a permanent pair-up partner):

FemMU x Chrom

Sully x Frederick

Nowi x Gregor

Henry x Cordelia

Lucina x Kjelle

Tiki x Anna

+ Lissa and Libra for staffbotting

People don't seem to like this team for whatever reason but I found it incredibly effective for both my Luna run (in which I didn't reclass) and my Luna+ run (in which I reclassed FemMU to Sorcerer and Lucina to Bow Knight).

[Ryo]

Thanks for the responses. And yeah, this is regular Lunatic, Lunatic+ is too much for me XD I also want to know a few more things:

- Are Breaker skills useful in general and are they worth passing down to the children?

- Should I marry the Avatar to a 2nd gen unit to make Morgan stronger? Is it worth the time and effort?

Edited December 25, 2014 by Ryo

[General Banzai]

Thanks for the responses. I also want to know a few more things:

- Are Breaker skills useful in general and are they worth passing down to the children?

- Should I marry the Avatar to a 2nd gen unit to make Morgan stronger? Is it worth the time and effort?

Morgan's not even necessary other than an extra Rally Rainbow bot. The only skill you need to be concerned with is Rally Rainbow. It is the best skill.

[Czar_Yoshi]

People don't seem to like this team for whatever reason but I found it incredibly effective for both my Luna run (in which I didn't reclass) and my Luna+ run (in which I reclassed FemMU to Sorcerer and Lucina to Bow Knight).

Just making sure, but you did no Second Seals, not no changing classes, right? The fact that you used Fred but no children (and even advised against using them, which is flat out suicidal- nobody tries to beat Lunatic Grima with stats in the high 20s and low 30s) makes me suspect the latter, and there's a very big difference.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Czar_Yoshi

[General Banzai]

Just making sure, but you did no Second Seals, not no changing classes, right? The fact that you used Fred but no children (and even advised against using them, which is flat out suicidal- nobody tries to beat Lunatic Grima with stats in the high 20s and low 30s) makes me suspect the latter, and there's a very big difference.

I didn't use Fred really, I had him permanently sit on Sully.

Also I did use Lucina, and had Kjelle be a permanent partner for her. And I don't remember advising against all children. I just think most come too late to be useful, but that's not all of them. Laurent and Morgan I can see being useful too, maybe a couple others.

Fun fact a really good skill for beating Grima is Vengeance. Slap Waste on Henry and you can do tons of damage (i.e., 10 to 15 x 4) to Grima after eating an attack from him. After that Lucina can usually finish him off, Olivia helping if needed. Rallies of course are critical here; adding +8 Mag (Rally Rainbow from Morgan and Rally Mag from promoted Lissa) to Henry and +8 strength (Rally Rainbow again and Rally Strength from Basilio) to Lucina can go a long way, not to mention a +8 speed from any promoted Falco (in my run it was Cordelia) to ensure doubling.

Tonics for the requisite stats and pair-up partners are also helpful; ultimately you can buff those high 20 to low 30 stats into the mid 40s. When I did this in Luna+ I had Lucina pair up with Henry just so she would have 4 chances of getting a Parafalch pair-up hit on Grima. I got lucky and she activated pair up 3 times with a ~40% pair-up rate but I also still had Olivia to try again if necessary. Not to mention since you're ostensibly 2-turning the final chapter it's not a big deal if the RNG doesn't go your way because you can set up and try again in minutes. This strategy is decently reliable, however.